Yaroslav Rakitskiy

Shakhtar Donetsk

2009–10 season

He moved up to the first team during the 2009–10 season, making his debut, at the age of 20, in a 6–1 Ukrainian Cup win against Dnister Ovidiopol (now called FC Odesa). He made his league debut for the club 16 days later, coming as a substitute on 31 August in a 3–1 victory over Zorya Luhansk. His first goal for Shakhtar came in the following round of the Ukrainian Cup in a 3–1 victory over Yednist' Plysky. He also set up the third goal of the match for Oleksandr Gladkiy. Rakytskiy scored his second goal of the season in a 4–1 group stage win over Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League. He ended his first season in the Shakhtar first team with 37 appearances, of which 24 came in the league, and 2 goals. He picked his first trophy at Shakhtar, with the team winning the league.

2010–11 season

Rakytskiy started the 2010–11 with success in the Super Cup as Shakhtar comprehensively defeated Tavriya 7–1. His first league goal came in a 3–1 victory over Kryvbas on 10 July 2010. He also scored Shakhtar's only goal in a 6–1 aggregate lose to Barcelona in the Champions League quarter final, scoring in the 5–1 first leg defeat at Camp Nou. He played in Shakhtar's 2–0 Ukrainian Cup win over Dynamo Kyiv. He made a total of 34 appearances in the 2010–11 season, scoring twice as Shakhtar retained the Premier League title.

2011–12 season

Shakhtar won the Premier League and the Ukrainian Cup in the 2011–12 season. On…

Club

As of match played 29 November 2025

International

As of 20 December 2018

Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first.

Rakitskyi made his debut for the national team on 10 October 2009, at the age of 20, in a 1–0 victory over England in a World Cup qualifier. His first goal for Ukraine came just four days later and a 6–0 win against Andorra. He scored his second goal in a 2–1 friendly win over Chile on 7 September 2010 and scored his third goal in another friendly match, a 2–2 draw with Romania which saw Ukraine take victory 4–2 in a penalty shootout and the finals of this tournament came out (Cyprus International Football Tournaments 2011. Since the start of the war in Donbas, Rakitskyi faced repeated questioning in the press about his refusal to sing the Ukrainian national anthem when he played for Ukraine. He has not been called up to the national team since his transfer to Zenit Saint Petersburg. The popular opinion was that he stopped being called up to the national team due to political reasons, when some commented how not calling him up was unprofessional, while others accused Rakitskyi of "putting himself before the interests of the national team" by moving to Russia. Rakitskyi subsequently retired from the national team in 2019.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Ukrainian Premier League: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2022–23, 2023–24 Ukrainian Cup: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2023–24 Ukrainian Super Cup: 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 Zenit Saint Petersburg

Russian Premier League: 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 Russian Cup: 2019–20 Russian Super Cup: 2020, 2021 Individual awards

List of 33 Best Football Players of the Year: No. 1 - 2019/20, 2020/21; No. 2 - 2018/19.